Organizational Hypocrisy and Integrity in Turkish Context: A Theoretical Analysis

Abstract

In the process of acquiring legitimacy and adaptation with organizational environment, there can be contradictions and discrepancy between statements and actual practices, and these paradoxical relations could pave the ground for the organizational behavior, which can be referred to as organizational hypocrisy. In educational institutions, hypocrisy means inconsistent individual values, benefits, opinions and actions at schools that affect the behavior of individuals. It could be concluded that hypocrisy at schools is observed when decisions are easily stated but not implemented. One of the mechanisms that can be used to eliminate negative results of organizational hypocrisy at schools is to ensure organizational integrity. For the sake of ensuring organizational integrity, it is expected from school administrators and other staff to be men of their word, to keep their promises, to internalize adopted values and reflect them in their actions, and not to ignore ethical principles in all educational and administrational processes. Limited number of theoretical and empirical studies that investigated which parameters are affected by organizational hypocrisy and what kind of outcomes it gave birth in schools caused difficulties in studying the term organizational hypocrisy. Besides, it was considered that studies related to how to deal with organizational hypocrisy at schools are limited in terms of their contribution to theoretical literature. Thus, the present study aims to evaluate organizational hypocrisy and organizational integrity, as opposed to hypocrisy, theoretically and to make some inferences based on the schools in Turkey. In the current study, organizational hypocrisy and integrity were discussed in Turkish context by examining these terms theoretically and providing recommendations for eliminating negative results of organizational hypocrisy.Keywords: Educational organizations, organizational hypocrisy, organizational integrity, Turkish education system ÖzÖrgütlerin işleyişinde söylem, karar ve eylem tutarlılığı gerek örgüt üyeleri gerekse örgütün örgütsel alanındaki imajı açısından son derece önemlidir. Örgütlerden ve özellikle de yöneticilerden genellikle söylemleri doğrultusunda hareket etmesi diğer bir deyişle vaat ettiği şeyleri yerine getirmesi beklenmektedir. Örgütlerin meşruiyet kazanma ve kurumsal çevreleriyle benzeşme sürecinde söylemleri ile gerçek uygulamaları uyumları arasında tezatlıklar veya çelişkiler yaşanabilmekte ve ortaya çıkan bu paradoksal ilişkiler örgütsel ikiyüzlülük olarak ifade edilen örgütsel davranışı hazırlayabilmektedir. Eğitim örgütleri açısından ikiyüzlülük, okuldaki bireylerin eylemlerini etkileyen sahip oldukları tutarsız değerler, çıkarlar, fikirler ve eylemler anlamına gelmektedir. Okullarda örgütsel ikiyüzlülüğün kararların kolayca ifade edildiği; ancak yerine getirilmediği zaman görüldüğü ifade edilebilir. Okullarda örgütsel ikiyüzlüğün olumsuz sonuçlarının ortadan kaldırılmasında kullanılabilecek mekanizmalardan biri örgütsel bütünlüğü sağlamadır. Örgüts...

Teachers’ views on organizational hypocrisy in schools

“…They found participants to have the opinion that a medium level of organizational hypocrisy existed regarding school administrations fulfilling their promises and having inconsistent practices. However, Kılıçoğlu (2017a) and Karagül-Kandemir (2019) found teachers to have perceptions of low organizational hypocrisy at schools. Although organizational hypocrisy is not considered very important in organizations because its imagined and real effects are unclear, hypocritical behaviors from organization managers negatively affect employees (Philippe & Koehler, 2005).…”

“…According to the majority of participants' opinions, schools attempt to reflect social values through a values-based approach. Kılıçoğlu (2017a) argued the values-based decision-making method in forming organizational integrity, which is defined as the opposite of organizational hypocrisy in schools, to be a voluntary practice that involves establishing organizational values to produce consistency in organizational decisions and actions. Whether the annual plans and lesson plans teachers prepared based on school goals were compatible with the classroom activities they implemented was also examined.…”

“…Örgütteki bireylerin ikiyüzlü davranışları örgütlerin güvenirliğini (Christensen, Morsing ve Thyssen, 2011) ve çalışanların örgütsel adalet duygusunu azaltmaktadır (Kahveci, Kandemir ve Bayram, 2019). Örgütteki ikiyüzlülük davranışları, çalışanların kuruma karşı negatif tutumlarını içeren örgütsel sinizm davranışlarını ise artırmaktadır (Kılıçoğlu, 2017a).…”

“…İkiyüzlülük örgütsel olarak tüm kurumlarda ve topluluklarda görülmesi mümkün olan bir davranış olduğu için araştırmacılar tarafından dikkat çekici bir olgu olarak değerlendirilmiş ancak alanyazın incelendiğinde araştırmalarda sınırlı olarak ele alınmıştır (Alicke, Gordon ve Rose, 2012; Barden, Rucker ve Petty, 2005;Fernando ve Gross, 2006;Koşar ve Koşar, 2017, Kılıçoğlu, 2017aKılıçoğlu, Yılmaz-Kılıçoğlu ve Karadağ, 2017;Phillippe ve Koehler, 2005;Tunçel, 2016;Weaver, 2008). Brunsson'a (2009) göre ikiyüzlülük davranışlarına neden olan tutarsızlıklar rutinleştiği için fark edilemez.…”

Leading Turkish schools: A study of the causes and consequences of organisational hypocrisy

“…Bureaucratic barriers in the Turkish education system are considered to be one of the most urgent educational problems (Erdem et al, 2011). Whilst practices may be implemented to display a legal and rational alignment with the corporate environment, the adoption of such practices may at best be superficial and lack any deep or real change to current practices (Egitimde Reform Girisimi, 2017; Kılıçoğlu, 2017b). Gumus and Akcaoglu (2013), whilst talking about primary education in Turkey, give some potential reasons for this tendency.…”